Scholarship winner completes cross country qualification

A major milestone took place in August for Coachmakers’ Sir Geoffrey de Havilland Flying Scholarship winner Selma Grage, when she completed her solo Qualifying Cross Country (part of the Private Pilot’s Licence – PPL Syllabus) in Tiger Moth G-AOEI.

Congratulations from everyone at the Coachmakers and Cambridge Flying Group (CFG). Selma is closing fast on completing her PPL, made possible by the Coachmakers’ Flying Scholarship – a rare feat by a young pilot in such a vintage aircraft.

The de Havilland Tiger Moth was first flown in 1931 and CFG’s Tiger Moth G-AOEI – ‘Echo India’ – was built in 1939 and served in France with the British Expeditionary Service, before escaping back to England during the Dunkirk evacuations.

Selma commented, “I finally managed to get my QXC (Qualifying Cross Country) done last week. It’s been a long time coming, waiting for a day with good enough weather, ground assistance and instructors available. There were a lot of bumps on the way, planning wise. Originally I was supposed to fly to Andrewsfield and Fenland but last weekend Fenland had an Air Race which meant I couldn’t fly in. Instead we made a last minute (ish) route change which used Duxford instead.

“The QXC has to be a minimum of 150 nautical miles with two land-aways. Because the Tiger Moth has a tail skid on the back it has to land on a grass runway (and for CFG ab-initio training it also has to be licensed). This makes it a lot more difficult to find suitable airfields and makes it even harder to plan the QXC. As Duxford and Andrewsfield are fairly close to each other I had to fly a longer route with turning points to get in enough miles. That meant an initial 1.5-hour leg which I must say is plenty for a solo run in a Tiger.

“It was all good fun and I got to both of my intended aerodromes, which is always a bonus! Thanks to everyone who helped out and made it possible. Now onto skills test prep!”